Hello people, and welcome to the Science Fiction environment thread! We received a task in class, that meant splitting into groups. These groups then work on a 3D environment. When one group has modelled the environment, another group takes over and textures it, and then another group builds the environment in UDK.
Each group has been advised to start a thread for the task. Below are links to the other groups' threads.
Realism Thread.Fantasy Thread.
This is the concept art we were told to use as a guide.
We would really like some feedback on our work! Keep in mind, however,that most of us have only just begun with 3D.
I will let the other members of my group introduce themselves, but since I keep the main file on my computer, I figured I would give you some updates on the others' work.
Until next time,
Sutobei
Replies
Below is a version of the "table" in the middle made by another group member, Robin.
And finally, here's a lamp and the metal ramp, made by the group member Andreas.
Please give us some feedback!
Until next time,
Sutobei
1 - You really need to pay more attention to proportions and sizes.
The concept room seems to be roughly square while yours is very wide The platforms are between 4 and 5 meters wide with the lower area varying between 3 and 5 meters. The angles of the platform shouldbe a strong 45 degree, while you only have faint kinks of about 10-15 degrees. The red cart can impossibly fit through the door. There should be more of a height difference between the platform and the rails area. The yellow walkway is quite high off the ground, not just 3 steps but more towards 3 meters.
2 - You should work modularly.
Right now you have one giant purple model for the floor. This is clunky, because you cannot easily adapt it to different rooms and because you need a giant texture to cover all of it (or have a blurry texture). A floor like this with hard edges is quite suited to being split up in tiles, which you can place side-by-side infinitely. You need 1 square (need 1, but may add more - for example one with grating to break up the monotony) and 1 triangular tile for the floor, plus then a couple of trimmings around the lower bit.
Along the same lines, the wall could be split up into lego-like parts. I would suggest making the yellow walkway modularly too. The props like pillars and barrels can also be copied and pasted - but you're already doing that so, good.
3 - wasting polygons
If you're just blocking things in, this is less important, but I think that the lamp is more of a 'finished' model for you guys. It is not very efficient, though. (nor is it really following the reference) I'm estimating it's around 400 triangles, and while that's a pretty decent number (in fact you could have few more) - it gets very little (interesting) detail out of them. Here's a quickie at ~600 triangles (~200 for the wires):
And the only thing I cut polygons from is the cylinder. 18 sides is tremendously much for such a thin object. Conversely, 8 sides is very little for a current-gen barrel.
You're also wasting an insane amount of triangles on the 'table' and the metal ramp. Look at how many loops there are that don't add anything whatsoever to the shape!
Also, is it just me or does this look a lot like the on-rails bit of Half-Life 1?
I'll do that ASAP, thanks:)
@Snader
I'll try to fix the proportions, and try to be more polygon-efficient. Also, I'll talk to the other members about being more aware about the triangles wasted. Thanks for the very well written feedback:)
I actually figured the same about the cart versus the door, and even though it's a tight fit, it gets through. I think it's just the perspective playing a trick.
These are the models I did. Since someone else is going to be building the scene, I felt like showing my idea of how they could build the cables.
Hopefully my group members will post their work soon.
Beam: http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6853/bjlke.png
Hose: http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9830/sladd.png
http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/